Annotation:Phely and Willy A Duet

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PHELY AND WILLY. AKA - "O Phely happy be that day." Scottish, Air (whole time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). ABC. The air is nearly always described as a "Jacobite Air". Composer Joseph Haydn made an arrangement of the song (Hob XXXIa:231). Robert Burns at one time thought to substitute the names 'Phely and Willy' for 'Mary and Harry', but settled for only modifying 'Phely' to 'Philly' for his song (set to the tune "Sow's tail for Geordie"). The lyric begins:

HE:
O Philly, happy be that day,
When roving through the gather'd hay,
My youthfu' heart was stown away,
And by they charms, my Philly.

SHE:
O Willy, ay I bless the grove
Where first I own'd my maiden love,
Wilst thou didst pledge the powers above,
To be my ain dear Willy.

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